Chương 416: 411. Ulriga - III

Pydaso had mentioned that there were many luxurious stone mansions located in the inner city—near the Palace of Ulriga where the duke and his family lived—and he finally believed it now. This was a rich city. He couldn't even fathom how well-off one had to be just to be invited to visit a mansion like that, let alone own it. Most likely, only nobles and some very rich merchants would own a place like that.

Being such a huge city and the capital of the duchy, there had to be dozens upon dozens of noble families living in Ulriga, all of whom served in the Duke's court in some capacity. They must be the ones living in those opulent mansions. However, even the baron's manor in Tiranat wasn't built of stone, so just how rich would those people be if they lived in a better place than a baron? Then again, Lord Kivamus had lived in this city itself, being the youngest son of the Duke.

He actually lived in the Palace of Ulriga, not even in one of the surrounding mansions or the wooden houses near the gates. In the palace itself. He shook his head, he was getting dizzy just thinking about such rich people. He'd better focus on his own task. Pydaso leaned toward him.

"I know a merchant with a warehouse in the harbor district. We'll park the wagons there first. That's the man whom I'll be trading our… other goods with. Coal, we'll sell elsewhere." Calubo glanced at him.

"How will we even find someone willing to buy two whole wagons of coal?" Pydaso burst into loud laughter, drawing a few looks from passersby.

"Two wagons is less than nothing here. Any petty blacksmith living in a side alley will buy it in a jiffy. We don't even have to go out to the northern outskirts to find the big smelters who buy huge amounts of coal and iron ore every day." Calubo felt heat rise to his face, then he laughed too, partly at himself. Of course. In a large city like this, nothing was scarce the way it was in a small village. They kept moving through the streets, weaving with the flow of the other wagons and passersby.

Calubo heard a swell of noise from a side road—shouting, bargaining, the clink of something metal on wood. He turned his head slightly.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, one of the cheaper market squares," Pydaso said without slowing.

"There are dozens of 'em though. We don't have business there today, and tomorrow we have to visit The Crooked Dagger—that's a tavern near the duke's palace—for a small task, but maybe we'll visit a market later on to look for any good deals." Calubo nodded, and stored the information away for later. Dozens of markets meant hundreds of stalls. Dozens of jewelers too, maybe. Perhaps even some who'd sell stuff for cheap.

He wasn't sure what it would cost, but he knew one thing: if he wanted to buy a ring, this was his chance. Hyola had been hinting for months now. Not directly, but enough that he'd heard it loud and clear. But he'd never wanted to propose without a ring in his hand, and he didn't just want to walk to Cedoron, the local smith and ask for a plain iron band like he was settling for the easiest option. She had been his support, his rock, during their time spent as Nokozal's slaves. And she was so much more now.

So he wanted to do something special for her. He didn't have the coin for anything fancy, but maybe—maybe he could find something simple that still looked good. And special. Ulriga had to have some good options. He'd have to borrow some silver from Pydaso for it, but he knew he could pay it back soon. Lord Kivamus was finally going to start paying the guards' wages in coin, and maybe it'd already have started by the time he returned. Pydaso glanced at him again, his look sharper this time.

"Now that we're inside the city, be alert. The moment you look one way, someone steals your stuff from the other side, and you wouldn't even know till later." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Calubo tightened his grip on the side rail of the wagon and nodded. His eyes went forward again, scanning the street ahead, then the edges and the side alleys, then the second wagon following behind them as much as he could without making it obvious.

Their precious cargo was still safe. And he wasn't going to let anything—thief, distraction, or the city itself—change that. He'd make sure of it.

~ Kivamus ~ Kivamus was pacing near the gates of the manor, waiting for Duvas. The majordomo had some other tasks to finish up before they could leave to inaugurate the third longhouse block, while Kerel and a few other guards were already standing nearby, ready to escort him. The guards had left yesterday morning for the counter raid, and they should have reached Kirnos by noon. If all went well, they should find Torhan's clay mining compound by nightfall. He could only hope the attack would go as planned.

On the other hand, with Hudan, Tesyb, Feroy, and a lot of other guards out of the village, the manor had been feeling a little empty right now. For the last week before they left, it had been very busy, since the guards had been training day and night for practicing those attacks. Everyone in the manor had been excited about the coming raid, but now that the guards had gone out, it was feeling a little desolate. At least it was only temporary.

It was evening now, although the sun still had an hour before it set, or so he estimated, since it was still cloudy, even if the rain had stopped for the moment. The early summer weather was getting warmer and warmer every day, and he expected that within a month the temperature here would easily exceed what he was used to during London's summers.

By the time the peak of summer arrived in Tiranat, he expected the temperature to exceed that of London's by around 10 degrees Celsius at least, from what he had guessed from the others talking about summer. Although that would still be tolerable until the rains arrived a month after the peak of summer.

The next two months after that—late summer to early autumn—would be humid and muggy, making it a chore to do anything which required exertion, like the usual morning run he went on, as well as the training of the guards. If only it was feasible to make a refrigeration system here... then he could make ice to provide cold water to everyone, and maybe even ice cream, from the milk the new cows—the ones Cinran merchants had started to bring—were giving now.

It wasn't possible for this summer, but perhaps in another year, they could have some proper refrigeration system in Tiranat, even though it would still be primitive compared to what was found on Earth. Although... there were probably a few simpler things which could be done even with their current technology level. Hmm... he had to think more about it. He looked around, and saw Duvas still talking with Madam Nerida near the servants' hall, so he started to pace near the gates.

He often became restless just standing idle. At least the merchants from the north were coming regularly now—nearly as often as they came last year—and now the manor was selling around four-fifths of the amount of coal as they did before last autumn. Because of that, their official monthly revenue had reached around 350 gold, which was certainly very helpful to buy everything for the village.

Whatever Pydaso paid for the Acelos tablets and paper was over and above that; and of course, they didn't have to pay any taxes on them, because officially, Tiranat had nothing to do with them. However, most of the coin they were earning was being used for paying for the astronomically high prices of wheat in Cinran, which was selling for above six gold coins per sack these days. At the rate it was going, he expected it wouldn't be long before the Count put a prohibition on selling wheat outside his town of Cinran.

Hopefully Trevalo's new trade route to Ulriga would be working well by then. While it would still be costly to buy sufficient amounts of wheat for the growing population of the village—which had crossed 550 people recently, with the refugees arriving regularly—at least no one was going to starve now. However, that still left the problem of paying the workers and guards in coins, but that was also going to be manageable soon.

When Pydaso returned this time, as usual he would buy another stock of acelos tablets, as well as the better paper they were stocking up on, which would give them a good amount of gold. In a few weeks, Trevalo would also be able to sell at least some extra coal in Ulriga, which would further add to their revenues.

Coupled with The 300 gold Feroy had liberated from the drug-smuggling knight, as well as whatever the guards found at Torhan's compound, would allow him not just to regularly buy enough wheat for the village, but it would also give him confidence of consistently getting good enough revenue that he could start paying everyone in coins right after the guards returned. He was sure everyone was impatient for that day, but it wouldn't be long now.